Tropical Cyclone Alfred has formed off Queensland, potentially bringing more wet conditions to already-sodden areas in coming days.
It is one of two tropical cyclones that have formed off Australia, with Tropical Cyclone Bianca also forming off Western Australia on Sunday night, but both remain well away from their respective state coastlines.
Alfred is slowly intensifying about 900km east of Cairns, sitting as a category one in the Coral Sea.
Favourable warm ocean conditions may increase it to a category two on Monday morning before it intensifies again to a category three on Tuesday.
Over the next few days, Alfred is expected move slowly southeast while staying several hundred kilometres off the Queensland coast.
During this time, it may influence the weather on the east coast with stiff southeasterly winds and a few passing showers.
“Strong winds will make for choppy conditions as well as sizeable swell over the Queensland coastal waters throughout the week,” meteorologist Angus Hines said.
There are still a few possibilities as to where Alfred could move at the end of the week, with one potential for it to veer back towards the central or southern Queensland coast.
This would greatly increase the risk of severe weather for parts of the east coast.
There are two tropical cyclones in the #Aus region.
Tropical #CycloneAlfred is a category 1 system in the Coral Sea, about 900km east of Cairns. Tropical #CycloneBianca is a category 1 system in the Indian Ocean, about 1000km off the #WA coast.
Latest: https://t.co/OkjBYf3cZd pic.twitter.com/KSWSe0yYlK
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 23, 2025
However, Mr Hines said it was too early to say what parts of the coast would be impacted or how strong the wind and rain would be.
“The key message through the first half of this week for people in Queensland is to keep a watch of the forecast track maps for Tropical Cyclone Alfred in the coming days,” he said.
Queensland’s north tropical coast is only just recovering from the impacts of a tropical low that brought weeks of heavy rain and severe flooding, with two lives lost and hundreds of homes evacuated.
WA is also just recovering from Tropical Cyclone Zelia that swept over the Pilbara coast as a category five, bringing damaging winds and extensive flooding.
Bianca was declared a category one in the Indian Ocean on Sunday night as it sits about 1000km west of Western Australia.
The good news is the system is moving further southwest, parallel to the WA coast, and will not impact the state’s weather.
It is forecast to strengthen to a category two system but that will be its peak before weakening below a cyclone on Wednesday.
“There is high confidence that Tropical Cyclone Bianca will weaken a long way away from the country without really impacting the weather for Western Australia or for the offshore islands in the Indian Ocean,” Mr Hines said.
